Tropical Storm Edouard developed Monday over the Gulf of Mexico, setting the stage for a period of strengthening before it pushes bands of heavy rain toward Texas and Louisiana, where forecasters warned of possible flooding.
The system was elevated from a tropical depression to a named tropical storm Monday night. The National Hurricane Center said Edouard was expected to come ashore in Texas on Tuesday.
As of early Tuesday, Edouard was positioned roughly 85 miles southeast of Cameron, Louisiana, and about 115 miles southeast of Port Arthur, Texas. The storm had maximum sustained winds of 40 mph and was tracking west-northwest at 7 mph.
Texas Gov. Greg Abbott said flooding remained the chief concern as the storm approached the coast.
Rainfall totals of 3 to 6 inches were forecast across the greater Houston area, while parts of the upper Texas coast could see as much as 9 inches, according to forecasters.
More than 4 inches per hour could fall and will likely cause flash flooding in low-lying and urban areas, according to the National Hurricane Center.
“This is our first big storm of the season, and I’ll tell you, Texas is prepared,” Orlando Alanis of the Texas Division of Emergency Management said during a news conference.
Crews worked Monday to clear dry vegetation that could ignite from a lightning strike and cause fast-spreading fires, Abbott said.
Meanwhile, the remnants of Hurricane Dolly brought rain and thunderstorms to parts of Haiti and the Dominican Republic, the Turks & Caicos, and the Bahamas, the hurricane center said.
In the Pacific Ocean on Monday evening, Tropical Storm Lowell was about 690 miles southeast of Hilo, Hawaii, and moving west with maximum sustained winds of 70 mph while moving west at 10 mph.
Forecasters said Lowell could rapidly intensify and become a major hurricane by Wednesday.
Elsewhere in the Pacific, Hurricane Karina became a hurricane Sunday, fueled by warm waters far from any shore, and strengthened Monday into a powerful Category 4 storm.
But it did not threaten land, forecasters said.
On Monday evening, Karina remained a Category 4 hurricane and was centered 1,135 miles west-southwest of the southern tip of the Baja California peninsula of Mexico with maximum sustained winds of 130 mph while moving west-northwest at 9 mph, the center said.